Buckle.



A. BURKE.

BUCKLE.

APPLIOATIOH nun JULY 17, 1908.

E Patented Dec. 27, 1910. F671 Fly Z.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ALFRED BURKE, OF LEOMINSTER, MASSACHUSETTS.

BUCKLE.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALFRED BURKE, a citi- Zen of the United States of America, residing at Leominster, in the county of WVorcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Buckles; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same.

Thisinvention relates to the manufacture of ornamental buckles and particularly to a method of producing buckles which are made of celluloid, viscoloid, or like plastic material.

An object of this invention is to stamp a buckle from stock in such manner as to minimize the amount of material used and it is also an object of the invention to stamp a buckle having a bar and an integral tongue which is stamped from the material at the time the body and bow of the buckle are formed, the material being then manipulated to cause the end of the tongue to overlie a portion of the bow. It is of course understood that in order to produce a buckle with a bow and tongue by stamping it, that normally the end of the tongue must terminate at the inner edge of the bow and it is, therefore, the object of this invent-ion to pro-- vide means which will permit the parts to be adjusted in order that the end of the tongue may assume its proper operative relation to the bow, that is, with its end over lying a portion of the bow.

A further objectof this invention is to provide a buckle stamped from fiat material and shaped to produce ornamental features shaped with relation to the body of the buckle, means being also provided for utilizing ribbon in connection with the said body.

With the foregoing and other objects in View, the invention consists in the details of construction as well as in the method of shaping the stock after it is out whereby an ornamental and useful article of merchandise is produced.

In describing the invention in detail, reference will be had to the accompanying drawings forming part of this specification wherein like characters denote correspond ing parts in the several views, in which- Figure 1, illustrates a plan view of a buckle in its completed state and the same figure illustrates by dotted lines the shape of Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed July 17, 1908.

Patented Dec. 27, 1910.

Serial No. 443,949.

the buckle as it is cut from the stock; Fig. 2, illustrates an edge View of the finished product; Fig. 3, illustrates a plan view of a slightly modified form with the dotted lines illustrating the form in which the buckle was out from the stock; Fig. 4:, illustrates by dotted lines another method of cutting the tongue from the stock and in full lines the finished product with the end of the tongue projecting over a portion of the bow; Fig. 5, is an edge view thereof with the body bent to lie parallel with a portion of the bow; Fig. 6, illustrates a plan view of a buckle and in dotted lines the form of the buckle when out from the stock wherein the bar is shown as curved. ,In this figure the full lines of the tongue and bar illustrate the positions to which the bar and tongue are brought in the completed state of the article. Fig. 7, is a plan view of a buckle and in dotted lines shows the form of the tongue when stamped from the material and said tongue is straightened to cause the end of the tongue to project over a portion of the bow; and Fig. 8, illustrates an edge view of the buckle having the lower or body portion thereof divided and provided with slits to permit a belt or ribbon to be applied thereto.

In these drawings A, denotes the body of the buckle having a slot or opening B, therein, designed to receive a belt or ribbon, and C, is a bow formed integral with the body. The tongue I), is integral with the body and when the buckle is stamped from the sheet material the bow would be in the shape of the dotted lines E. It will be seen that the tongue D, terminates at the inner edge of the dotted lilies and in order that the tongue may assume operative relation to the bow, it is necessary that the said tongue overlie a portion of the bow. In order, therefore, to adjust the parts, it is necessary to heat the material to such a degree that it becomes pliable in which state the material is bent from the dotted line position E, to the shape of the bow C, as it is shown in full lines. As shown in Fig. 1, the sides are spread and the bow proper is drawn in toward the body so that the tongue may overlie the portion of a bow. As the tongue is resilient, a ribbon or belt may be inserted between the tongue and bow and the buckle thus produced may be used in the same way as ordinary buckles are employed. The body of the buckle is bent as shown in Fig. 2, to allow the ribbon or belt to pass through the aperture B.

In the modification shown in Fig. 3, the body A, slot or opening B, bow G, and tongue D, are the same as described in connection with the disclosure in Fig. 1, except that the sides of the bow instead of being spread are allowed to remain as they are stamped from the material and the bow C, is bent from the dotted line position to the full line position shown in Fig. 3, when the tongue will project over a portion of the bow.

In Fig. 4, I show a body A which is larger than the bodies of the other forms and this enlarged body may be used for ornamental purposes or it may contain jewels or metal and other trimmings. In the form just described, thetongue D has a slotted end when it is first produced but the material from which'the bow is formed diverges for a suitable distance and then converges to the point where it is connected to the body The two branches of the tongue which are shown in dotted lines in Fig. 4, are curved when the buckle is stamped from the material and said branches are heated until the material becomes pliable and are then forced together resulting in the elongation of the tongue to such an extent that its ends will overlie a portion of the bow C The slot or opening B in this form is situated just under the tongue so that a bar E is formed integral with the tongue and integral with the body and sides of the bow.

As a further method of producing the buckle by stamping or cutting it from sheet stock, I illustrate in Fig. 6, a body A a bar E which bar is in the incomplete state and the buckle is bent away from the bow. In completing the buckle, the bar is made pliable and is then bent until it is parallel I with the end of the body and until the end of the tongue D overlles a portion of the bow C In the form shown in Fig. 7, the body A*, and bow C are similar to the body and bow disclosed in Fig. 6, except that the body is not so long as illustrated in said Fig. 6. In producing the tongue in this modification the tongue D is cut from the material or stock in a serpentine form as shown in dotted lines and when said tongue has been made pliable and bent as shown in full lines in Fig. 4, the tongue has been sufliciently elongated to permit its end to overlie a portion of the bow and as has been stated heretofore, the tongues of all of the forms are sufiiciently resilient to permit the insertion of a belt or ribbon between the end of the tongue and the bow.

In Fig. 8, I have illustrated the lower portion A of the body split or divided and bent in opposite directions and in this form slits are cut from each side permitting the ribbon or belt to be passed through both slits. A buckle of this construction may be used for a watch fob connection or it may be employed in various other ways.

I claim A method of making buckles consisting in stamping the body, bow and tongue from sheet material, a portion of the tongue being stamped elliptical in contour with the elliptical hollow center in such manner that the combined width of the sides thereof substantially equals the width of the other portion of the tongue, heating the tongue and pressing the sides of the elliptical portion together to cause the tongue tooverlap the bow.

ALFRED BURKE.

lVitnesses:

ANNIE M. NEYLAN, ALTA M. PIERCE. 

